Challenge Other Card Wizards at a Magic The Gathering Tournament

If you are looking for a way to challenge your mind and socialize at the same time, you may want to visit Derek at All A-Board Games. When it comes to gaming, Derek is very passionate. So he turned his passion into a business and opened All A-Board Games in Kamloops. They specialize in new & used card and board games, used video games, board game rentals, and collectible toys and also have the largest selection of dice in Kamloops. But the main attraction at All A-Board Games is definately the Magic The Gathering tournaments held on Monday and Friday nights. This is a time to get together with other game fanatics for a fun night of game play. They are located at 334 Seymour Street, Kamloops, BC, Phone: 250.377.0745

WikipediaMagic: The Gathering (MTG; also known as Magic) is the first trading card game, created by Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic continues to thrive, with approximately twelve million players as of 2011. Magic can be played by two or more players each using a deck of printed cards or a deck of virtual cards through the Internet-based Magic: The Gathering Online or third-party programs.

Each game represents a battle between mighty wizards, known as "planeswalkers", who employ spells, items, and creatures depicted on individual Magic cards to defeat their opponents. Although the original concept of the game drew heavily from the motifs of traditional fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, the game play of Magic bears little similarity to pencil-and-paper adventure games, while having substantially more cards and more complex rules than many other card games.

An organized tournament system and a community of professional Magic players has developed, as has a secondary market for Magic cards. Magic cards can be valuable due to their rarity and utility in game play.

Game PlayIn a game of Magic, two or more players are engaged in a battle as powerful wizards called "planeswalkers". A player starts the game with twenty "life points" and loses when he or she is reduced to zero . Players lose life when they are dealt "damage" by being attacked with summoned creatures or when spells or other cards cause them to lose life directly. Although reducing an opponent to zero life is the most common way of ending a game, a player also loses if he or she must draw from an empty deck (called the "library" during the game), or if they have acquired 10 "poison counters". In addition, some cards specify other ways to win or lose the game.Players begin the game by shuffling their decks and then drawing seven cards. Players also draw one card at the beginning of each of their turns, except the first player on their first turn. Players take turns consisting of several phases. Certain cards can only be played during certain phases or during the player's own turn, and the player whose turn it is has the first chance to play cards. At the end of a player's turn, if that player has more than seven cards in hand, the player discards until their hand contains seven cards. The contents of other players' decks and hands are not usually known to players.The two basic card types in Magic are "spells" and "lands". Lands provide "mana", or magical energy, which is used as magical fuel when the player attempts to cast spells. Players may only play one land per turn. More powerful spells generally cost more mana, so as the game progresses more mana becomes available, and the quantity and relative power of the spells played tends to increase. Some spells also require the payment of additional resources, such as cards in play or life points. Spells come in several varieties: "sorceries" and "instants" have a single, one-time effect before they go to the "graveyard" (discard pile); "enchantments" and "artifacts" are "permanents" that remain in play after being cast to provide a lasting magical effect; "creature" spells summon monsters that can attack and damage an opponent. The set Lorwyn introduced the new "planeswalker" card type, which represent powerful allies who fight with their own magic abilities depending on their loyalty to the player who summoned them. Spells can be of more than one type. For example, an "artifact creature" has all the benefits and drawbacks of being both an artifact and a creature.

Some spells have effects that override normal game rules. Garfield has stated that two major influences in his creation of Magic: the Gathering were the games Cosmic Encounter, which first used the concept that normal rules could sometimes be overridden, and Dungeons & Dragons. The"Golden Rules of Magic" state that "Whenever a card's text directly contradicts the rules, the card takes precedence."This allows Wizards of the Coast great flexibility in creating cards, but can cause problems when attempting to reconcile a card with the rules (or two cards with each other). The Comprehensive Rules, a detailed rulebook, exists to clarify these conflicts

Derek from All A-Board Games is passionate about Magic The Gathering

Derek and Kenny play a game of Magic The Gathering

New decks for Magic The Gathering are regularily released to keep the game fresh